What happened to action films?

seun

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After watching The Last Boy Scout for the first time in a few years, I've been wondering what happened to action films. They used to be violent, full of swearing and aimed at adults. Now we have Die Hard 4 which was like a two hour version of the A-Team.

OK, so it's obviously all about the box office takings but even so, is anyone else sad the crappy action films we used to watch for mindless entertainment have been replaced by kid friendly films?
 

seun

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To which films are you comparing the new ones?

Die Hard 4 was the first that came to mind when I watched Boy Scout. Probably because Bruce was in both. When I say the older films, I mean the ones where people bled when they got shot, where getting a kicking looked painful and where swearing wasn't covered by gunfire. Robocop, Predator and Commando would be good examples.
 

MattW

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MPAA ratings have skewed how films are made and marketed.
 

Jcomp

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Budgets got crazy. That's the main thing. Die Hard 4 cost 110 million. If you want to help ensure a good return on investment, you release it as PG-13 so more people can get in. If you could make that movie for half the budget, you can afford to make it rated R and come out with a 70 - 80 million dollar domestic run and feel like you were successful.

A film like Sin City shows that if you can keep your budget relatively reasonable you can have a successful box office run with an R rating, and a flick like 300 shows that there's still a sizeable market out there for R rated flicks if you market it right (and it still had a "modest" budget of 60 mill, which didn't hurt its chance at profits).

But once the budget starts hitting triple digits, you're looking at an increased possibility of the film being recut to get that precious PG - 13.
 

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Anyone remember those gloriously crappy action fllms from the eighties by Golan-Globus and Cannon Films? Invasion USA, The Exterminator (1&2), Action Jackson, et. al.? Thems were the days...
 

Chasing the Horizon

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It's funny, but I always watched action films for the action, not for the swearing. I loved Die Hard 4 (and if you care, there's a version on the DVD with the swearing put back in). I like the first three Die Hard movies too.

I'll never understand what the big deal is with violence and swearing and ratings. My parents always let me watch whatever I wanted. As a pre-teen, my favorite movie was Starship Troopers (yes, I realize now that it actually sucked), which is a heavy 'R' rating with lots of swearing, bloody violence, and nudity. I turned out just fine watching movies like that all the time from age 6 on, so I guess I'll never understand why people care.
 

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Heaven forbid you see a nipple, but explosions and death without swearing is acceptable to all consumers of visual media.
 

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As a guy, it pains me to see the sorry state of action movies.

The problem is that the action has gone way past the point of believability. Now, these flicks are just so over-the-top, they're boring.

Give me a movie with pacing and suspense over nonstop, cartoonish violence any day. How anyone can stomach the nonsense of, say, Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible is beyond me.
 

MattW

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As a guy, it pains me to see the sorry state of action movies.

The problem is that the action has gone way past the point of believability. Now, these flicks are just so over-the-top, they're boring.

Give me a movie with pacing and suspense over nonstop, cartoonish violence any day. How anyone can stomach the nonsense of, say, Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible is beyond me.
Dumbification, and belief that a single actor can carry any half ass script.
 

Enzo

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Action movies?
I love Jason Bourne, the stuff looks real and there's no CGI, as far as I can tell anyway. I'm also looking out for the new Guy Ritchie, Rock n Rolla, which maybe counts more as a gangster movie than as action, but hey, it's still supposed to rock.
 

childeroland

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Same thing that happened to non-torture porn horror films (and most torture porn for that matter except the Saw films) -- PG-13 brings in more teens whose parents let them see the movies, so the genre got sanitized. Look what happened to Midnight Meat Train and Trick 'R Treat.

Die Hard 4 was the first that came to mind when I watched Boy Scout. Probably because Bruce was in both. When I say the older films, I mean the ones where people bled when they got shot, where getting a kicking looked painful and where swearing wasn't covered by gunfire. Robocop, Predator and Commando would be good examples.
 

mario_c

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Dark Knight was obviously cut for a PG-13 too. Sometimes it works out, as in the 'tryouts' scene where you get to just imagine what they do with the broken pool cue...

But it's true about the ridiculous cost of A-list movies. Couple that with a dizzying one-two punch of heartland puritanism and urban political correctness, and you have the death knell of rugged, two fisted action in mainstream movies. Apparently only Rodriguez and Tarantino are allowed to make it rude and crude anymore.
If you want rough and tumble, look overseas: kudos Enza for bringing up Guy Ritchie. Don't forget Hong Kong: Hard Boiled by John Woo, Run and Kill, Full Contact, City On Fire, the list goes on and on.
Here in the US, maybe a camcorder revolution will reveal a new breed of no-budget action movie directors. Like the blaxsploitation genre of the 70s, and the cable-ready trashy 80s classics (Thanks, Gravity!!!) Has anyone discovered a gruesome and/or sleazy favorite to share?
 
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seun

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Anyone remember those gloriously crappy action fllms from the eighties by Golan-Globus and Cannon Films? Invasion USA, The Exterminator (1&2), Action Jackson, et. al.? Thems were the days...

Oh, the memories (of really bad films :D)
 

MattW

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Video (game) killed the action star?
 

C.bronco

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A film like Sin City shows that if you can keep your budget relatively reasonable you can have a successful box office run with an R rating, and a flick like 300 shows that there's still a sizeable market out there for R rated flicks if you market it right (and it still had a "modest" budget of 60 mill, which didn't hurt its chance at profits).
Two good examples, thanks to Frank Miller! :)
 

C.bronco

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I remember watching Point Break and despairing that it all goes down hill from here.
Point Break doesn't really count. It was too sappy.

When I think of old school action, I think of spaghetti westerns, Deathwish (just the first one), Bruce Lee movies, The Dirty Dozen, Rambo, and Dirty Harry movies.

And Walking Tall, the original with Joe Don Baker, not the awful remake.
 
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After watching The Last Boy Scout for the first time in a few years, I've been wondering what happened to action films. They used to be violent, full of swearing and aimed at adults. Now we have Die Hard 4 which was like a two hour version of the A-Team.

OK, so it's obviously all about the box office takings but even so, is anyone else sad the crappy action films we used to watch for mindless entertainment have been replaced by kid friendly films?

Children of men was a great action film.
 

HorrorWriter

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Action films are really falling short. I agree with the person who said it's about the money and teens bring in a lot of it. I miss the PREDATOR and COMMANDO days. :D

Maybe this is why I haven't sold my action script yet. It's not kid-friendly. :Shrug:
 

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Children of men was a great action film.

I don't think I would call it an action film. It has lots of action, though, but so did Saving Private Ryan.

I think action films are harder and harder to make now. We've seen them all. They're expensive to make. What can you do to make them exciting and new without a $200 million price tag? Well, by going back to the basics and making them real. That's what James Bond and Jason Bourne are doing (isn't it funny they're both JBs? I bet Ludlum had Bond in mind when he named Bourne). They're still rather outrageous, but none of that Die Hard 4 physics-defying logic. Another thing is to hire lower-paid actors. No more Bruce Willis or Arnold. Now we have Daniel Craig or Jason Statham. Or import from places like Asia (completely with martial art).
 

Fox The Cave

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Don't forget Jack Bauer.

Seriously, don't - Jack'll hunt you down and stick your head so far up your ass you'll have a circumference.

On topic though, if anyone is in the Middle East like I am, tune into satellite station MBC Action (related to MBC 2, which i'm proud of for being the ONLY free to air 24 hour movie channel in the world, booyah!). MBC Action has loads of B Movie action flicks, so badly written you wanna bang your head against a table, but fucking entertaining nonetheless.